Driving

SO, I've been without a car for two years now. Since March 2008. My sister let me borrow her car today. I drove to work, drove to lunch and drove to the gym... I can hardly stand it! I would rather loiter at the train station for an hour than drive through traffic for half an hour. In the morning I sat waiting at a stop light for over five minutes. One that I usually breeze by and laugh at the cars waiting in line while the new construction is progressing slowly. I drive to lunch only to wait at more stop lights and even miss my turn and have to circle around to get back to work.

Then I decide to go to the gym and think, hey this is great I'll be home before 9 easy! As I pull into the parking lot for the gym I find myself circling around again and again, waiting for someone to pull out of their parking spot so I can take it. Cars wait as people walk to their cars and other cars sneak around looking as well. I feel impatient and nearly frantic. I can see why some people get so stressed out. I remind myself that I will be in the gym shortly to work off any stress that has built up. Then I finally find a parking spot in the far corner of the lot, which I don't mind at all (two cars drove right passed it to continue looking).

Throughout the day I did remember how cautious I need to be while riding and how hard it really is to pay attention to everything while driving. Especially cyclists, joggers and other pedestrians during times of heavy traffic.. I realize that some of the behavior that I find offensive is actually courteous. Like swerving around while I bike up the side of the road, even when there are two lanes. I mean come on, get in the other lane, no need to be brash. On my way home though I had the exact same impulse, as I came up on a rider I wanted to swerve into the other lane and come back to give him more room. I decided to edge toward the center line so it wasn't as dramatic.